Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 72: Saber-Tooth

A small chill runs down my spine, making me pull my knees closer to my chest and scoot a little closer to the roaring flame in front of me. To my left is Darius, and my right, Ben. Both, with everyone else, staring into space. Faces were illuminated by the bright orange light coming from the fire, but only that.

The air was, to put it simply, morose.

I hate it. How everyone is so tense.

I hate how Darius seems completely out of ideas. Tired, and losing his grip on being the leader we knew and loved him being. His shoulder were sagged, his head geared away from everyone, avoiding eye contact. He was starting to give up, I could tell. And it wasn't like the Darius I lo- liked.

Ben, on the other hand, was extremely worrisome. Ever since I'd failed at getting him to open up, he'd stayed away from communicating with anyone. When someone asked or told him something, he didn't answer and looked away from them. His body shook, and I could tell it wasn't the cool breeze filtering past us. He hadn't shivered so badly since, well, before. It'd been months since I'd last seen him like this. And it meant that something was really, really bothering him. But he wouldn't open up to me, or anyone else, so how could we know?

As for Brooklyn — my arch enemy turned best friend, somehow — she was more pensive and thoughtful than anything. When I looked at her more, I could see her roots beginning to grow back in. Her pink hair was slowly fading away. Her eyes were more worn down then I remembered them ever being, too. Like they'd been drained of energy.

Kenji, since the island, hasn't really acted like his usual self. At all, actually. He's been more serious and stressed. Instead of being to dumb, quirky, silly one like he usually was, he was trying to make sure everyone was physically fine. Emotionally, though, all of us were clearly damaged.

Yaz was also starting to concern me. I noticed her shaking a bit earlier, when we'd found the metal platform thing, and her eyes growing wet. All of us had been shattered, but she and Ben had looked to most affected. No sarcastic or witty comment had come from her lips since we'd last lost each other in the canyon.

As for Sammy, well, she was-

Currently standing up?

My eyes follow her as she suddenly jumps to her feet and clenches her fists at her sides. Then, out of nowhere, she opens her mouth and screams.

The campers watch in bewilderment as she cries out to the sky. Her back is arched as if she's howling like a wolf at the moon. This lasts a good ten seconds, before she stops, huffing and puffing, chest rapidly moving up and down.

For a moment, we're all quiet.

Then Yasmina gets up and screams, too.

Then Darius.

Then Brooklyn.

Then myself. The feeling of the tearing coming through my throat is somehow the most exhilarating thing. My voice bounces through the air as the others' echo around me. It's almost as if I'm letting everything — the trauma, the stress, the fear — go and fly into the sky. Like I'm relieving my body of everything inside. Losing my energy and my pain.

It's a beautiful feeling, really.

Kenji follows after me.

I look down at Ben, who's looking away. But I take his hand and pull him to his feet. He stares at me incredulously, but I tighten my grip on him to keep him standing. Sammy grabs his hand, and Brooklyn's. And we're all suddenly screaming together in a loud, ridiculous cacophony of noise.

Well, almost all of us.

I notice that Ben is still staying silent, pulling his head down again. My hand tries to squeeze his to try to coax him into it, but he doesn't so much as glance my way.